Acting on a memorandum from Ed Hale, Utilities Manager for the county's Department of Public Works, the council abandoned their previous decision to split operations of the transfer station between Cimarron Enterprises and Orcas Recycling Services, instead authorizing Hale and Public Works Director Frank Mulcahy to fashion one contract with ORS for operation of all aspects of the facility.

"Now islanders can have the full waste disposal and waste diversion/resourcing services AND lower rates they have mandated for so many years becoming a reality over the next five years of the contract," according to the ORS' Facebook page.

ORS says the first year will be spent getting programs transferred over to their management and doing educational outreach and getting new waste diversion systems in place. Beyond that, the organization hopes to promote zero waste, local jobs and re-sourcing back to the community.

Mark De Tray, Executive Director of ORS, gave credit to "the people on Orcas who supported us tirelessly and people from Lopez who helped us put together our final proposal and budget."

Hammering out a definitive contract will start next week, according to De Tray.

"I want to thank the county council for giving us this opportunity," he said. "We won't let them or the people of Orcas down."

After making the Orcas decision, the council immediately took up the recommendation of the San Juan Island solid waste selection committee for operating the transfer station on San Juan Island. The council decided the that the county should negotiate a five-year contract with Ken-Tec Energy of Lynnwood and Lautenbach Industries of Mt. Vernon to operate the facility on Sutton Road, owned by the Town of Friday Harbor and leased by the county.

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